Author's Note:
Before I go on with this story, there is something I would like to clarify.
There are three main schools of literature writing. Romantic, Naturalist, and Symbolist.
I'm not all that knowledgeable about the Symbolist school, but I do know something about the other two.
In the Romantic school of literature, each character is supposed to embody an idea, rather than being a necessarily realistic character. Atlas Shrugged, the book that inspired me to write this (not that Bethesda didn't provide me with a lot of material) is written in the Romantic style. Ian Fleming used it for the James Bond series of novels, as did George Lucas in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series.
James Bond is not supposed to be a particularly realistic character, at least he wasn't until the introduction of Daniel Craig, but it didn't stop women from wanting to be with Sean Connery (who embodied what Bond was supposed to be), nor did it stop men from wanting to be James Bond.
The Naturalist school, on the other hand, requires that each character be a real person. While there is certainly value to this school of writing, the proper form of Naturalistic writing is the chronicle, and the proper method is journalism.
Whereas the novel represents the Romantic school. Novels contain a structured plot into which the characters fit, and each character, setting, and event is supposed to represent an idea or ideal of some kind. This is why no one complained of the lack of realism in the story of Star Wars, as it was no less entertaining for the plot holes. The ideal of Romanticism is conflict, in the sort of Good-vs-Evil way that James Bond always was.
The very best of the Romantic school is represented by Victor Hugo. Ayn Rand agreed that her own works were philosophical writings as much as they were novels, so they cannot be held as representative Romanticism, in spite of their Romantic style. Novels are written about values we already have, and their expression. Atlas Shrugged was as much about trying to explain what those values were as it was about expressing those values.
Naturalism, on the other hand, is best represented by Shakespeare. I don't think I really need to explain this part further, except to say that the Bard's characters were believable. In Naturalism, man is often his own worst enemy.
I want to make this clear: I am trying to write a Romantic piece here, not a Naturalist piece. Bethesda gave me loads of material to work with, and I am going to run with it.
My story will continue until well after Broken Steel, and will encompass all of the add-ons except Mothership Zeta. I will be making a few changes to in-game sequences, and having Marcus make a few choices that the game does not permit, but each of those changes will be purposeful in setting up the rest of the story.
I also will not introduce deliberate, obvious flaws into Marcus. He will have them, but they will not be debilitating. The argument that all men are imperfect falls flat, because Marcus is not supposed to be a perfect character. He isn't going to be perfect, nor is every decision he makes going to work out perfectly. But Man-vs-Himself is not a central conflict in Romantic writing. If and when it is introduced, it is a peripheral conflict and not central to the story.
The whole point of Man-vs-Himself is that the character does not have a well-organized and consistent character. In order to have conflict with oneself, one's values have to contradict each other at least at some point. This is Naturalism, because real people tend to be like this.
Also, there are characters in Fallout who are embodiments of Good and Evil, just as there are more realistic characters. Hannibal Hamlin, Sonora Cruz, Lucas Simms, and Sarah Lyons are supposed to be completely good characters, whereas Burke, Augustus Autumn, Daniel Littlehorn, and Talon Commander Jabsco are supposed to be completely evil characters. Marcus is going to be one of those Good characters, and his actions will be consistent with this, but it won't always be obvious to the reader that this is so unless he happens to share Marcus's values.
